Letters to Sports

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, July 14, 2003

SWEET LOU

Reception for Piniella made us all look good My husband and I are loyal fans of the Mariners, and our hats are off to the organization and the City of Seattle for the class they showed welcoming Lou Piniella to Safeco Field. I can't express how proud it makes me to see such class -- it speaks well for the entire Pacific Northwest.

Jill WilliamsPasco

SAUSAGEGATE

Litke, Simon should suffer piñata treatment I am outraged by Jim Litke's column minimizing the recent incident where a 5-foot-3, 100-pound, 19-year-old woman in a sausage costume was intentionally hit on the back of the head and knocked to the ground with a baseball bat by Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon.

I work as a firefighter and have seen firsthand the result of a person being hit on the head with a baseball bat. I can assure you there is nothing funny about it. The image of an overpaid brute hitting a minimum-wage person dressed in an awkward costume with a baseball bat made me sick. Miraculously, the girl was not seriously injured.

I frequently have volunteered at nursing homes and retirement centers and on occasion have worn large costumes to cheer up the residents. I am 5-9, 190 pounds. These costumes are heavy, cumbersome, hot and uncomfortable, but offer no protection from people who think it is funny to hit you. In fact, they make you much more vulnerable to injury. The weight puts a strain on your neck and your field of vision is limited. You are unable to defend yourself in the costume.

Professional baseball is supposed to be an All-American family spectator sport. When sports columnists have to make excuses for overpaid brutes assaulting the underpaid help, baseball again appears to be a megamillion-dollar spectacle with no redeeming qualities. Baseball players are supposed to be role models; I think Simon should be suspended indefinitely without pay.

As for Jim Litke ... stick him in an Easter Bunny costume for a couple of hours and let baseball fans pummel him like a human piñata and see how he feels about it.

Neuheisel dismissal not a point of pride In the days of the Old West, justice was metered in the form of mob rule with the offender being "strung up" without a trial. In the days of the Old South, the KKK could incite members to hang a man for no reason at all, proud of their inhumanity.

One would hope we had distanced those times. However, in recent weeks we have all witnessed or been part of a hysterical swarm, cleverly fueled and stoked by the media, demanding the "hanging" of coach Rick Neuheisel.

Rather than standing strong for this truly fine man she once heralded, Barbara Hedges seems to have joined "the gang" (termed by a fan recalling the good old days of UW football) and is bowing to mob (and money) rule.

Respected coaches nationwide have come to Rick's defense. In his sports column for the Bremerton Sun, Dick Baird, former UW recruiting coordinator and coach, points out the absurdity of firing Rick, using the analogy of sending a jaywalker to prison.

"Lynch him," cries the mob of once-loyal fans, willing to let this nationally respected football program and its athletic director become the laughingstock of the sport. There is nothing to be proud of here.